Tag Archives: Valentine’s Day

Welcome to the Flames of Desire
Valentine’s Day Blog Hop, from Feb. 5th – 11th!

The Grand Prize Is A Kindle Fire HD 7”!

Winners Need To Be In The US or Canada to Win Items That Need to Be Shipped, But Anyone Can Win an E-Book.

All the prizes on the hop page except the books for the winner’s Kindle will given away daily!

The Power and Appeal of Romance

Romance is the most popular of all fiction genres. Women today are stressed out by modern life. Romance novels are about female empowerment. By the end of the book, the heroine has overcome all obstacles and she even gets the guy. Some men say they don’t like romance because “the woman wins”. I prefer to think that both people win when they form a loving, committed relationship.

Novels help people escape from their problems, even helping them deal with the emotional, even the physical, pain of their lives. When my mother died some year’s ago, I was devastated. For several weeks afterward, it seemed like the only time I wasn’t crying was when I was reading. (Unless I was crying over something that happened in the book.) Reading can be a form of inexpensive stress relief.

Romance also affirms values like love, commitment, bonding and family. The books often end with a proposal, a wedding, or the birth of a child. When you come right down to it, romance is about the survival of the species!

Yet romance gets no respect in the literary world. The books are criticized for being unrealistic. Is it unrealistic to think that young men and women are going to fall in love and marry? If so, we’d better add Homo Sapiens to the endangered species list.

Hoppers get extra entries towards the grand prize by doing the following things:

Follow each blog Like and follow on Facebook Follow on Twitter Leave a comment with your email address

Comment Example: Name: Jane Doe Email: [email protected] Comment: Great post! Twitter: Followed Facebook: Followed Blog: Followed Country you live in: US

My new love, Miss Callie.

My prizes are:

$10 Amazon gift card

2 e-book copies of Lily and the Gambler

To win one of my prizes, leave a comment below with your name and email address.

While I normally write dark, creepy suspense and paranormal, a few years back, I tried my hand at a light, sweet, humorous story. Even though it was way out of my comfort zone, I was surprised to find that I truly enjoyed writing it. Each year about this time, I dust it off and share it. After all, it IS a Valentine’s Day Romance.

I hope you enjoy this glimpse into “Cupid’s Beau” ~ ON SALE for 99¢Blurb:

Ivy Pierce is a Cupid who prides herself on doing her job well. Except when it comes to a certain human male. Although she doesn’t understand why, each time she’s supposed to shoot her arrow into Grant Crawford’s heart, her stomach hurts, her chest hurts, and she feels….sad. Cupids are never sad.

After Ivy sabotages Grant’s last chance to find true love, her boss, Aphrodite, sends her to Earth to right her wrong. She has until Valentine’s Day to help him find his soul mate. But the more she’s around him, the more she wants him for herself, even though she knows that can never be. A Cupid and a human? Unheard of.

With every beat of her broken heart, the deadline draws closer. Can she sacrifice her own happiness to help the man she loves find his?

Excerpt:

Ivy sat nervously on a fluffy, bejeweled chair, tapping her foot on the cottony floor.

Aphrodite paced in front of her crystal desk, her lovely face drawn in a scowl. “Ivy, is what Meg said true? Did you really ruin Mr. Crawford’s last chance to find love?”

Ivy swallowed a knot of tears. The only thing worse than being a lousy, sneaky Cupid was disappointing Aphrodite. “Yes, ma’am. I did.”

“Why? Why would you do something so…so terrible?”

Ivy shrugged. Misery weighted her shoulders, made her want to sink into a puddle and disappear. “I wasn’t thinking. I just—acted.”

“Your impulsiveness has ruined a man’s life. Do you have any idea how serious this is? How horrible it is for a human to go through life without love?”

Ivy blinked back tears. “I know.”

“He’s a special case, too. Raised his sister on his own after his mother left. Because his father was so busy searching for a love to replace the one he lost, he ignored his children. The two of them grew up lonely, feeling abandoned, with only each other to turn to. That’s why Mr. Crawford is so dead set against love, why he so desperately needs our help. He saw what the search for love did to his father, and he wants no part of it.”

“Yes.” Ivy’s heart ached for the little boy Grant Crawford had been. For the lonely man he’d become. For her role in making him lonely for the rest of his life.

“Love is a powerful emotion. The most powerful of them all. It causes people to do the most outrageous things. But it also brings the most joy, the most satisfaction. More than you can ever imagine.”

“And I’ve stolen that from him. I wish there was something I could do.”

“There is.”

Ivy lifted her head and stared at Aphrodite. “There is? But he only gets three chances, right? That was his third?” In spite of her genuine guilt over what she’d done, the thought he might still find love, might be with some lucky woman, triggered that same unpleasant feeling in the pit of her stomach.

“This is a special circumstance and calls for special measures. The three chance rule is in place for those who continue to throw away the opportunities we give them. If they are too closed off, too jaded, or just too foolish to grab onto love when we give them the chance, then that’s on them. But, you are the one who sabotaged his final chance. As a matter of fact, you are the reason he needed a third chance.”

“I know. I’m sorry. So, we give him more chances? I promise, I won’t interfere again.” She had to keep her promise. No matter how much it hurt.

“Not exactly. We can’t apply the usual method, you’ve seen to that.”

“Then what method?”

Something in Aphrodite’s expression told Ivy she didn’t want to hear about the other method.

“You shall travel to Earth and make sure Mr. Crawford finds love.”

“What? Travel to Earth?” Ivy’s knees weakened. She’d never been beyond the clouds. This was her home. Her sanctuary. Earth was crowded and dirty and dangerous…

I am a suspense and paranormal author in Edmond, Oklahoma, and I have dreamed of being a writer since I was a child. I attempted my first romance at age 10 (featuring a hero who looked just like Elvis Presley), and I still have the tattered, pencil-written copy.

I lead a very busy life, but I manage to find time to read my favorite authors—Michael Connelly, Dennis Lehane, and Lee Child to name a few—and watching (and rewatching) my favorite shows like The Walking Dead, Dexter, Justified, Friends, and too many other sitcoms to name. But, my greatest passion—other than my family—is writing, and I am exceedingly blessed that I get to do what I loves most.